The redshirt junior finished the season as Big Ten Kicker of the Year and was a perfect 19-for-19 in the playoffs.

COPPELL, Texas — For some college students, spring break is a chance to party with friends. But for Indiana kicker Nico Radicic, he made it a point to see mom and dad.

“I had to go home,” Radicic told WFAA. “I haven’t seen them in so long. I know they miss me.”

The Coppell native is back in North Texas for the first time since helping the Hoosiers win their first CFP National Championship.

The redshirt junior finished the season as Big Ten Kicker of the Year and was a perfect 19-for-19 (field goals and extra points) in the College Football Playoffs.

Radicic’s path to football is rare, yet familiar. A former soccer player, he discovered a natural talent for kicking a football in eighth grade.

“They’re like, ‘You want to go kick a ball?’ and I kick like a 45 [yarder] in eighth grade,” he said. “From then on I was like, ‘I might be good at this.’”

Radicic rapidly developed into one of the nation’s top recruits at kicker.

Despite offers from many blue blood programs, he chose Indiana — which at the time was the losingest program in college football history.

He picked IU because he would start as a freshman, receive a full scholarship and get a taste of NFL weather conditions by playing fellow Big Ten schools.

“You just got to put your head down at certain times and not listen to what other people might have to say about you and just do your own thing,” Radicic said.

Like his head coach Curt Cignetti, he went for it. And it paid off.

“Seeing the confetti fall down,” Radicic recalled. “It’s a good time.”

His parents, Tom and Vesna, were there to see their son’s crowning achievement.

“When you see your son, and when you know what he’s been through to get there, and now he’s playing on the big stage, it’s just amazing,” explained Tom Radicic, a native of Croatia and former water polo player.

“It still seems so unreal what happened with the whole season,” added Vesna Radicic, a former diver.

Back home, the celebration has been more subdued but no less meaningful.

“It’s always great to have Nico home,” his mother said. “I miss him all the time.”

As spring break winds down, Radicic will soon return to campus.

For him and Indiana, the championship may have been a breakthrough, but it’s not the end goal.

Because the party is just getting started.